In this case we’ll concentrate on shopping as we have been working hard on that manuscript. After so many weeks/months working on our manuscript, we need to find a publisher that will love our book as much as we loved writing it. One thing’s for sure, we know how to shop till we drop... So if we can do that for a pair of shoes, a dress or anything else that we like, why not do the same thing with a Publishing house? As we writers know, finding the name of a publisher is not hard but it can be time consuming as we need to know our market. We need to know what that publisher looks for and sells. It’s time to put our muse to rest and put a cape on like Sherlock Holmes—we have work to do. If you've done your homework you know what stories they are looking for. There’s no use sending a romance to a publishing house that only wants non-fiction. Make sure you read the guidelines and send the genre they are asking for. If you are not sure your story fits that category, read some published books by that publisher in that genre (well you should anyway), to see if your story has the same elements. Some writers are afraid of reading other work in case they accidentally copy the story. Reading books doesn’t mean you’re plagiarising, but copying the work of another writer is—that is the worst mortal sin a writer can commit. Reading is good food for the mind, and to get to know a genre really well you must do your homework. Many publishing houses don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, and if you think “I’m going to try my luck [and submit to one of those anyway ]without an agent “DON’T!!” You will be wasting your time and the time of a very busy publisher.